New Delhi, The first list of candidates for the upcoming general elections by the BJP Central Election Committee (CEC) may be released later in...

New Delhi, The first list of candidates for the upcoming general elections by the BJP Central Election Committee (CEC) may be released later in the day on Friday or Saturday wherein the party leadership is likely to give its signal to shift Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to national politics. According to the sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend the meeting along with BJP chief Amit Shah and other top leaders here. In the first phase of polling on April 11, voting will take place for 91 seats across the country. The BJP Assam unit is learnt to have nominated Mr Sarma's name for Tezpur constituency and apparently there is also no other claimant for the seat. Mr Sarma, a former Congress leader, is now regarded as the party's chief trouble shooter in North-East politics and reportedly enjoys good working relations with party chief Amit Shah and party general secretary Ram Madhav. Tezpur, along with Kaliabor, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Jorhat in Assam will go to the polls on April 11. For the prestigious Guwahati seat, the shortlisted name include sitting MP Bijoya Chakravarty, Bijuli Kalita Medhi and Chikimiki Talukdar.

Sitting MP Ramen Deka's name figures for Mangaldai along with two others while for Nagaon seat, Union Minister Rajen Gohain and MLAs Rupak Sarmah and Angoorlata Deka's names also have been recommended for the final call by the party's central leadership. The BJP has left Kaliabor, Barpeta and Dhubri to AGP and wants to contest in 10 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats from Assam. In 2014, it won seven seats from the state. For Kokrajhar seat, BJP ally BPF has already announced the candidature of State Minister Pramila Rani Brahma. The BJP CEC meet is likely to clear names for Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Baghpat, Kairana and Meerut in UP and Nagpur in Maharashtra. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is likely to be the BJP nominee for the prestigious Nagpur seat. In West Bengal, polling in the first phase will be held in Cooch Behar and Alipurduar. For Cooch Behar, BJP's candidate could be Deepak Barman while the name of Manoj Tikka is being considered for Alipurduar, a party source said here. BJP poll-panel may give its nod for the name of Union Minister Kiren Rjiju for Arunachal West. In Arunachal East, party leader Tapir Gao may be fielded again like in 2014. In the first phase of polling, the important seats going to the polls are Bihar are Jamui, Gaya Nawada and Aurangabad. In Odisha, for first phase all eyes will be on Kalahandi, Koraput, Berhampur and Nabrangpur. On Thursday, Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi quit BJD. The decision came after indications that he may be denied ticket to contest the ensuing polls. Crucial voting for parliamentary elections in constituencies likes Outer Manipur, Tripura West, two seats - Shillong and Tura in Meghalaya and one seat each in Mizoram and Nagaland would also take place on April 11.